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Struggling Brazil raises deficit ceiling

[SAO PAULO] Brazil is raising its deficit ceiling for this year and 2018 because of a big drop in tax revenue, sluggish growth and other woes in Latin America's biggest economy.

The government's limit for the fiscal deficit this year was the equivalent of US$43.7 billion, and US$40.6 billion in 2018. But now it will go up to US$50 billion for both years, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said on Tuesday.

The fiscal deficit is defined as the difference between what a government spends and its revenues, excluding money that comes from borrowing.

Mr Meirelles said the numbers will change significantly, again for the worse, in 2019 and 2020 as well. In the latter case, what had been a small projected surplus of US$2.6 billion is now expected to be a deficit of $20.4 billion.